Brantley Principal Dodd Hawthorne was promoted to director of operations for Crenshaw County Schools.

The promotion was one of several personnel changes discussed at Wednesday’s school board meeting.

To replace Hawthorne, the school district promoted current assistant principal of Brantley, Kris Odom. The school board hired Troy City Schools’ Brittany Smith to fill Brantley’s assistant principal position.

Luverne Assistant Principal Jamie Howard will now be the school’s first minority principal.

Luverne also hired Rudy Free as the new defensive coordinator for the football team and a physical education teacher.

“We are very excited about the new hires,” said Steve Sanders, chair of the school board. “They are all quality people and are going to move Crenshaw County Schools forward.”

Dr. Boyd English attended his first meeting as superintendent and announced that he will be implementing new fine arts academies into the school system.

Luverne High School will be hosting the art academy, Brantley High School will be hosting the music academy and Highland Home will be hosting the drama academy.

“It was a really good night,” said Sanders. “Everything is positive, things are settling down and we are moving in the right direction.”

The school board thanked Terry Holley for his hard work as interim superintendent.